Using metadata and content types, SharePoint Information Management Policy Settings allow you to set a retention period on folders in SharePoint and automate deletion of records that have met their retention requirements.

The AutoArchive tool allows you to automatically delete messages based on policies of your choosing. This is a great way to regularly clear out the large portion of emails with no specific retention without having to think about it.

Quick Steps allow you to take a process that requires multiple steps and combine them into one easy action. There are many possible uses for this tool, such as flagging a message and moving it into a folder, or forwarding a message to your entire work team, or creating a calendar item based on the message.

If you use Outlook to view your UW Exchange email, you can share email folders with other UW employees. Creating a shared folder will give the individual(s) you specify access to the emails, contacts, tasks, or notes contained in that folder. You may remove access to a shared folder at any time.

Every time you reply to a message, you end up including the text of all the previous messages in the conversation, filling your inbox with duplicate information. The conversation tool can assist with a quick cleanup of duplicate messages. Use this tool to view all messages in a conversation together, and use the cleanup function to delete the duplicate text.

The retention period for calendars is 1 year after the end of the calendar year. This can be a difficult retention to implement unless you are very familiar with how your email client works. Learn how to clean up your Outlook calendar in this resource.

Because calendars have a specified mandatory retention period, action must be taken to preserve these records (including metadata) when an employee leaves a department or the university. In Outlook, one way to accomplish this is to export a copy of the employee’s calendar to a PST file.